Marsh suspends protesting cleaners

American insurance group Marsh has insisted that 12 contract cleaners employed at its City of London headquarters be suspended from duty, after they held a protest demanding improved pay and conditions.

The cleaners, most of whom are Polish, are employed by contractor ISS at an hourly rate of £5.60. After their night-shift ended last Thursday morning, they joined a protest organised by the trade union Unite, as part of its long-running Justice for Cleaners campaign.

But Marsh subsequently identified the employees involved, and demanded ISS remove them from the contract immediately. As a result, ISS has suspended the cleaners on full pay, and hopes to transfer them to other locations in London in the next few days. 'We don't like to lose good people,' said a spokesman for ISS.

One of the suspended cleaners, who did not want to be identified for fear of further reprisals, told The Observer: 'I have to clean 600 desks in a night, and it's very hard work.

'We just want to be treated like human beings. When I came to England, I knew that I couldn't work in an office, because I do not speak English. I know my place. But I expected people to think of me as a human being.'

Most of the cleaners had worked at the company for at least a year. They were campaigning for a 'living wage', more than the statutory minimum, sick pay and pension rights.

Paul Davies, Unite campaign manager, said: 'This is an absolute infringement of people's rights to free speech and protest. People should be allowed to say, "I have been wronged" and not be punished for it.'

A spokesman for Marsh declined to comment. The US group is the world's largest insurance broker, and also owns private investigation firm Kroll.